Impressions of TX (Houston, Dallas, San Antonio: neighborhood, living in, costs)

[BstYet2Be]

Originally Posted by jm21

Put most of the photos up...had to transfer some to my laptop and haven't gotten all of them off it yet...hopefully the link works. All the photos are in sub-galleries...

jm21-2/texas - Photobucket - Video and Image Hosting

Part of my trip I kept forgetting to get new batteries for my camera, so there aren't many pictures...had just enough juice to turn on and take a shot now and then.

I've been thinking about this thread for awhile now since JM posted his first opinions of the TX area he was visiting, which were less than positive. And I thought, okay... he'll get around to saying something good about something he saw and experienced... but throughout... not really, even if a statement was made in a positive light, it was quickly followed with, "I've had better", "I've seen better", "nothing special", "I can't find a latte", etc.

And, I've got to tell you, honestly, this offends me as a Texan. This is my home, our home, and I feel as if you've come into it... and, instead of expressing what a "fine, grand home" we have here and visiting and experiencing our great cities and towns and experiencing it and all of its' beauty, it's like you went in and searched for any crude you could find in the floor corners, or cobwebs above the door sills, or cracks in the ceiling, or dust on the furniture, any nit-picky thing that you could find to be negative about.

Whether this was your intent, I don't know, but it is how all your impressions have come across to me. Or, it could just be your personality and the way you view things as I noticed that you did not sound very positive about Oregon, either. And, of course, it could always just be my personal, overly-sensitive perception of what you've written, and if so, I do apologize for my misinterpretation.

But then, you post pictures that are by far the worst ones of Texas I've ever seen! And I don't mean there was a problem with your photography skills, just your subject matter. For a forested area, I could have found better trees in downtown Dallas and we all know Dallas isn't known for trees! And, just from a different prospective, when I was in Oregon I chose to take pictures of the ocean, not of the mills on the ocean in south Oregon or the clearcut areas, while you chose to include the mill in your pics of the lake. There are so many gorgeous pictures of every area of our state in each of the city forums (made by everyday people such as you and me) that could easily be made into a travel brochure of great places to visit, while the ones you took would be included (again, in my opinion) in a travel brochure of places to be sure not to visit.

Only you know why you took the negative slant on our fine state as you did. All I can say is, next time (if you are fortunate enough to come again), try to come with a positive frame of mind to begin with and venture into some of our fine cities, communities, neighborhoods, dining experiences, scenic areas, countrysides, hill country, mountains, deserts and oil fields and meet some of our fine people that have made this state what it really is and can share with you what it stands for to all of us... and most of all... show it the respect it so truly deserves!

[Rocket Power]

As another Texan, I wasn't offended by anything in this thread at all said by the original poster.

I think somebody is just being a little too sensitive here. Believe it or not, there just might be some places that are nicer when it comes to scenery than parts of Texas are.

[KerryB]

Originally Posted by Rocket Power

As another Texan, I wasn't offended by anything in this thread at all said by the original poster.

I think somebody is just being a little too sensitive here. Believe it or not, there just might be some places that are nicer when it comes to scenery than parts of Texas are.

Yeah, really.

Lighten up, new2sa. No one owes you a thing & the OP is just being honest. Maybe its the "our stuff is just the best" attitude you & others have going on thats turning him off?? And I thought those pics were just fine. News flash, A LOT of Texas actually looks like that. *GASP*

There are other beautiful parts of the world you know. And yes, some are better than anything you can find here, such as beaches. Maybe you should venture outta Texas every once in a while & see them. It will give you some perspective & you can make a better argument for what IS actually better in TX, other than "OMG, how dare you. Everything we have is the greatest!"

Just a thought.

[BstYet2Be]

Originally Posted by KerryB

Yeah, really.

Lighten up, new2sa. No one owes you a thing & the OP is just being honest. Maybe its the "our stuff is just the best" attitude you & others have going on thats turning him off?? And I thought those pics were just fine. News flash, A LOT of Texas actually looks like that. *GASP*

There are other beautiful parts of the world you know. And yes, some are better than anything you can find here, such as beaches. Maybe you should venture outta Texas every once in a while & see them. It will give you some perspective & you can make a better argument for what IS actually better in TX, other than "OMG, how dare you. Everything we have is the greatest!"

Just a thought.

Listen Sweetie,

I have travelled more already, across the U.S. as well as abroad, than you can ever wish to in your lifetime! It is tough, 'though sometimes, to leave this great state and certainly always a pleasure, no matter where I go, to be able to come home to it!

And, had you read this thread from the beginning, as well as JM's initial threads (go back, they're attached), you would know that... as my first comments to him were that he would NOT find the forest and ocean beauty here that exists in Oregon (oh, yes, sorry to bust your bubble, but I have actually even been to Oregon, not once, but twice).

When you can come back and discuss this as an adult... instead of coming off half-cocked attacking with less than intelligent insults, perhaps we can then have a discussion on why you immediately assumed that Texans don't travel... or not aware of what exists in other states and countries... as well as not being able to judge for themselves what is representative of this fine state and what isn't.

[KerryB]

Originally Posted by new2sa

Listen Sweetie,

I have travelled more already, across the U.S. as well as abroad, than you can ever wish to in your lifetime! It is tough, 'though sometimes, to leave this great state and certainly always a pleasure, no matter where I go, to be able to come home to it!

And, had you read this thread from the beginning, as well as JM's initial threads (go back, they're attached), you would know that... as my first comments to him were that he would NOT find the forest and ocean beauty here that exists in Oregon (oh, yes, sorry to bust your bubble, but I have actually even been to Oregon, not once, but twice).

When you can come back and discuss this as an adult... instead of coming off half-cocked attacking with less than intelligent insults, perhaps we can then have a discussion on why you immediately assumed that Texans don't travel... or not aware of what exists in other states and countries... as well as not being able to judge for themselves what is representative of this fine state and what isn't.

Where did I personally insult you??

Again, YOU seem to take offense to anyone saying anything slightly negative about your "great state". Not Texans in general, but YOU.

Yeah, I'd say you need to lighten up a bit, "sweetie".

[BstYet2Be]

Originally Posted by KerryB

Where did I personally insult you??

Again, YOU seem to take offense to anyone saying anything slightly negative about your "great state". Not Texans in general, but YOU.

Yeah, I'd say you need to lighten up a bit, "sweetie".

I take offense to people, such as yourself, that have a proven track record of Texas-bashing on these CD forums.

Makes you wonder why, if one has such an obvious distain for an entire state, why one would keep showing up in the Texas forum when one lives in Jacksonville, FL. Guess you must just be homesick for Corpus!

Bless your heart! Hang in there, sweetie... maybe you'll get your chance to come back someday!

[KerryB]

Originally Posted by new2sa

I take offense to people, such as yourself, that have a proven track record of Texas-bashing on these CD forums.

Makes you wonder why, if one has such an obvious distain for an entire state, why one would keep showing up in the Texas forum when one lives in Jacksonville, FL. Guess you must just be homesick for Corpus!

Hang in there, sweetie... maybe you'll get your chance to come back someday!

Wow, you're smart enough that you can use the "Find all posts by" option & thus must know everything about me. Bravo. My Texas "bashing" is no worse than your overly defensive Texas flag waving.

But this isn't about me & my posting history. You never addressed why you're so huffy towards the OP when the guy was good enough to share his honest opinions, pics, etc with the board. That was a bit uncalled for, no?? You did kinda go off on the guy just because he wasn't praising the name enough.

[BobTex]

Originally Posted by KerryB

Wow, you're smart enough that you can use the "Find all posts by" option & thus must know everything about me. Bravo. My Texas "bashing" is no worse than your overly defensive Texas flag waving.

But this isn't about me & my posting history. You never addressed why you're so huffy towards the OP when the guy was good enough to share his honest opinions, pics, etc with the board. That was a bit uncalled for, no?? You did kinda go off on the guy just because he wasn't praising the name enough.

Kerry,

Do you really go around bashing Texas (If you do that is very bad manners ... did you miss something in your upbringing?)? Do you really live in Fla.?

If the answer to these two questions is "yes" you've lost credibility IMHO!

Nothing wrong with someone waving their Texas flag ... in fact it is a good thing!

Just "new" posting their honest opinion(as was pointed out originally)!

I wasn't offended by the OP but if New was should they not have a forum to express themself? Do you wish to suppress their opined word?

Honest questions here!

BTW ... I could have post MUCH better pics of the same areas ... maybe JM doesn't have the "eye" for the camera! Very possible!

[tstone]

Nothing offending here I didn't think. Texas does leave a lot to be desired as far as beauty goes, though. Ever wonder why property is so cheap here and so expensive on the west coast? Beauty. Everyone knows Texas has its beauty here and there, but for the most part is miles and miles and miles and miles of montonous landscape. Take I-10 from Beaumont to El Paso for a good, 800+ mile example. Good luck finishing that drive in a day without some coffee to keep you awake.

Big Thicket was an interesting choice to go to, though. I've never been but it sounds interesting biologically -- they say it's basically where the southwest, southeast and central plains all meet up. Maybe I'll take a trip over there. Houston is only what, about 90 minutes southwest of there?

[jm21]

Like I said in an earlier post on this thread, I like to give the negative aspects because it's what I would want to hear if I was thinking about moving to or visiting someplace. As I said, you can get all the positive info you want from travel brochures. That being said, there were some areas of TX I didn't like (such as beaumont and port arthur), and others I was unimpressed with (meaning it was what I would call average or typical...nothing really outstanding...for what it was, such as South Padre Island being a pretty typical beachy resort town), but a few I liked quite a bit (longview/marshall and a lot of parts of the lower gulf coast...either would be very tempting to live in imho). EDIT: just my opinions....other people might love the "island time" stuff that SPI seems to be selling, someone on another thread commented on the great jobs coming up in port arthur, and a lot of people don't seem very imrpessed at all with anything near brownsville at all.

The pictures I took were at various parks, wildlife refuges, etc. It was the winter, I'm not a great photographer, and I wasn't photographing to try to capture the beauty of the place. I rarely use my camera (maybe twice a year), and was just snapping shots, for example on the trails, as you would see walking down the trail. I saw gorgeous pictures in the travel brochures from all the places I visited...but that's not necessarily what a place is like if you're just passing through or glancing around. The latter is what I was trying to capture, for myself, and to show my family/friends.

Originally Posted by new2sa

I've been thinking about this thread for awhile now since JM posted his first opinions of the TX area he was visiting, which were less than positive. And I thought, okay... he'll get around to saying something good about something he saw and experienced... but throughout... not really, even if a statement was made in a positive light, it was quickly followed with, "I've had better", "I've seen better", "nothing special", "I can't find a latte", etc.

I said some positive things, and a lot of my negative or unimpressed comments were followed by "but it's winter," "maybe I just met the wrong people," etc...and I never said anything about not being able to find a latte...I only had coffee once, at a place I found by chance in Athens when I stopped to look at my maps, and commented that it looked like it would fit in just fine in the NW (the coffee capital of the US...which I wouldn't call a derogatory comment), but could use some fresh baked scones (I like scones) and an experienced barista (go figure...an inexperienced barista at a small coffee shop in a small town outside the coffee-drinking area of the US...and there are a lot of places in the NW that have bad coffee too...making a good shot of espresso requires quite a bit of knowledge and experience. FYI, the caribou coffee I went to in Minneapolis on the stop on my flight home was just as bad). I was actually surprised to find a coffee shop at all.

And, I've got to tell you, honestly, this offends me as a Texan. This is my home, our home, and I feel as if you've come into it... and, instead of expressing what a "fine, grand home" we have here and visiting and experiencing our great cities and towns and experiencing it and all of its' beauty, it's like you went in and searched for any crude you could find in the floor corners, or cobwebs above the door sills, or cracks in the ceiling, or dust on the furniture, any nit-picky thing that you could find to be negative about.

It's not a fine, grand home to me. It's another state, one of many. It has its positives and its negatives. I like that Texans take pride in their state, but even if it's perfect for you, that doesn't mean it's perfect. If it was perfect, everyone would be living there and property prices would be through the roof (or is part of being perfect having low property prices?). I don't think of every place in the world as an amazing, astounding place. I think of them as different places. Some you like more than others. Some you love, some you hate.

But then, you post pictures that are by far the worst ones of Texas I've ever seen! And I don't mean there was a problem with your photography skills, just your subject matter. For a forested area, I could have found better trees in downtown Dallas and we all know Dallas isn't known for trees! And, just from a different prospective, when I was in Oregon I chose to take pictures of the ocean, not of the mills on the ocean in south Oregon or the clearcut areas, while you chose to include the mill in your pics of the lake. There are so many gorgeous pictures of every area of our state in each of the city forums (made by everyday people such as you and me) that could easily be made into a travel brochure of great places to visit, while the ones you took would be included (again, in my opinion) in a travel brochure of places to be sure not to visit.

See my comments about my pictures above. I thought it was a power plant, not a mill (the park brochure brags that because the lake is used to cool the powerplant, there is great fishing year-round...there's your positive spin!). I took the picture because it is RIGHT in the middle of your view going into that area of the park. You cannot possibly miss it, and the lights on the smoke stacks (I made a comment on this I think) flash at night, which ruins what would otherwise have been an AMAZING view of the sky on the western part of the island there (which I also commented on...it really was a beautiful sky, but the flashing....). There was also a powerplant (mill?) at purtis creek, but it didn't intrude nearly as bad as the one at martin creek lake, and didn't have the flashing lights...shorter stacks...

Only you know why you took the negative slant on our fine state as you did. All I can say is, next time (if you are fortunate enough to come again), try to come with a positive frame of mind to begin with and venture into some of our fine cities, communities, neighborhoods, dining experiences, scenic areas, countrysides, hill country, mountains, deserts and oil fields and meet some of our fine people that have made this state what it really is and can share with you what it stands for to all of us... and most of all... show it the respect it so truly deserves!

Oil fields? Not quite sure what's so great about oil fields....

Tstone-
The big thicket actually refers to a very large area of E. Tx. (and maybe some other states?) from what I understand. The preserves are small bits left of various parts of it. They're small and scattered all over a fairly large area...I think 7 areas total? Or was it 7 trails? If you go on all the trails you can see several different ecosystems. I wish I had visited in spring, I bet they would have looked a LOT better.

On a side-note, all the outdoors places I went to in TX, including all the places that just had hiking trails, had handicap access too, which I thought was kinda funny (handicapped access to a hiking trail?) when I first saw it, but then read a comment in one of the registers about how nice it was to have handicapped access, so I guess it does get used...you'd be hard pressed to do much in the outdoors in OR if you had a real handicap...I remember a long time ago I was out at the coast and an old lady had gotten her wheelchair stuck on the beach because she had wanted to feel the ocean breeze again. We do have more natural areas here, but that means excluding quite a few people sometimes.